Ken Borland

Jayden Schaper is fairskinned and baby-faced, but he came off the Blair Atholl course on Saturday looking well-bronzed after a sweltering third round of the South African Open. More importantly, he also headed for a cold shower with a marvellous 67 and a share of the lead.

The 22-year-old Schaper started the SA Open in solid fashion but under the radar as he posted back-to-back 70s to sit with the pack of 10 other golfers in 15^th place. But on Saturday when temperatures in the mid-30s and wicked pin-placements combined for the toughest round yet, he stood tall and emerged as the frontrunner, along with compatriot and buddy Ryan van Velzen, for the third oldest national title in golf.

And his third round did not even start auspiciously as he bogeyed the par-five first hole. But thereafter he was tremendously controlled as he collected consecutive birdies on the fourth and fifth holes and another at the par-four ninth to reach the turn on three-under.

He then birdied the three par-fives on the back nine – the 10^th, 13^th and 18^th holes – to finish on nine-under-par.

Van Velzen, seven months younger than Schaper and also hailing from the East Rand, followed up his stunning 65 in the second round with a solid 70 on Saturday. He made a blazing start with three birdies in four holes from the second, but a couple of bogeys followed, before his only other birdie of the third day, on the par-three 17^th.

South Africans could well dominate the podium after Sunday’s final round, with Louis de Jager (70) one behind on eight-under and Dean Burmester in a tie for fourth on seven-under after a terrific 65.

Whoever adapts best to what is expected to be another ferocious test at Blair Atholl on Sunday will take the spoils, and there is a dangerous overseas contingent, led by a resurgent Matteo Manassero (-7) also scrapping for the prestigious title.

“I have some good memories of this course and this event, but today it was a brute,” a sweating Schaper said shortly after his round. “It’s very long with massive greens and it was cooking today with a dry heat that fried the greens and made things even trickier.

“I would have taken a 67 with both hands at the start of the day. I just tried to keep focused, my hands dry and my body hydrated. It was never going to be too easy making birdies today. It’s a tough course and on moving day you expect some easy pin positions and the tee-boxes being moved forward so guys can make some birdies. But it was just the opposite today and it was brutal.

“I caught a few glimpses of the leaderboard and you just try to keep yourself in it. I’ve been in a lot of positions like this, you learn from them and now it feels pretty much normal. You always want to win your national open and this would be an awesome one to make my first pro win,” Schaper said.

The prevalent view of the leaders was that patience is going to be key on a testing final day.

“The biggest thing I’ve learnt in the last year is that golf is about patience,” Schaper, one of the rising stars of South African golf, said. “I’ve based my game on consistency and I’m more than happy to have top-10s every week.

“Because of my strong junior and amateur careers, I definitely know I can handle the pressure on Sunday. Golf is about constantly growing and developing and the more experience you get, the more comfortable you feel out there,” Schaper said.

“You have to play smart golf, stay very patient and be fine with making pars out there,” Van Velzen said. “Don’t go chasing birdies with those tough flags because that’s how bogeys are made.”

Anrich Nortje – 8

11 wickets @ 8.54, Econ 5.37, BB 4-10

Pushed himself farther than any of the other bowlers and enjoyed a superb tournament. High pace, good control and even some slower balls saw him twice take four wickets in an innings.

David Miller – 7

78 runs @ 78.00, SR 116.41, HS 59*.

The left-hander’s beloved finishing ability was to the fore against India, but unfortunately he could not repeat the heroics against the Netherlands, thanks to a spectacular catch.

Still South Africa’s best in the middle-order, he was sorely missed against Pakistan due to his back spasm.

Rilee Rossouw – 7

141 runs @ 35.25, SR 169.87, HS 109.

The crowds were cheering him after his magnificent century against Bangladesh, but he failed against India and Pakistan, while he looked threatening but gave it away versus the Netherlands. Shot-selection can sometimes let him down.

Wayne Parnell – 6.5

5 wickets @ 20.40, Econ 6.37, BB 3-15. 5 runs @ 2.50, SR 38.46, HS 3.

Did grand work up front with the new ball, but was expensive at the death, conceding 26 runs in the two overs he bowled there against Pakistan and the Netherlands. His batting was barely functional for an all-rounder.

Keshav Maharaj – 6

3 wickets @ 29.66, Econ 7.41, BB 2-27.

You can always rely on Maharaj’s left-arm spin to be tidy and controlled, which it once again was.

Quinton de Kock – 6

124 runs @ 31.00, SR 161.03, HS 63.

Magnificent in the first two games, and then his batting fell away as his feet often looked entombed in concrete. Also tended to be a bit solemn in the field, when teams normally look to their wicketkeeper to provide the spark.

Tabraiz Shamsi – 6

4 wickets @ 14.00, Econ 7.00, BB 3-20.

Only used by the Proteas in the two matches in Sydney; Bangladesh’s demise was hastened by his three wickets, but then Shamsi was put to the sword in one over by Pakistan’s Shadab Khan.

Lungi Ngidi – 5.5

7 wickets @ 16.57, Econ 8.92, BB 4-29.

Missed the match against Bangladesh but bounced back with an outstanding display against India. Was disappointing when the Proteas exited the competition in Adelaide, his performance not being up to scratch on a pitch that suited him.

Aiden Markram – 5.5

99 runs @ 24.75, SR 125.31, HS 52. 1 wicket @ 21.00, Econ 7.00, BB 1-16.

Always looks so technically correct at the crease, and his half-century against India was an innings of proper class. Got in and got out though against Pakistan and the Netherlands. Bowled three overs of tidy off-spin.

Heinrich Klaasen – 5

36 runs @ 18.00, SR 133.33, HS 21.

The difficulties of the role can be seen in the performances of the Proteas’ back-up finisher. Would obviously have liked to have changed the results of the two matches he played in, against Pakistan and the Netherlands, but his strike-rate was okay.

Temba Bavuma – 3.5

70 runs @ 17.50, SR 112.90, HS 36.

Again found life at the top of the order tough, although his 36 off 19 balls against Pakistan seemed to have revitalised him. Can there be any future for him in T20 Internationals?

Kagiso Rabada – 3.5

2 wickets @ 75.50, Econ 9.43, BB 1-24.

South Africa’s premier fast bowler was a bit like the husband who does not do his chores around the house. The expectation was there, in perfect conditions for him, and he looked good at the start of the tournament, but he was tardy in the last two matches.

Tristan Stubbs – 3

31 runs @ 10.33, SR 100.00, HS 18.

An unforgiving World Cup debut for the 22-year-old as he was just not able to provide much acceleration at the death. Perhaps he pushed too hard, too early, but the Proteas should certainly give him more opportunities.

Irish powerhouses Leinster, especially at home, thrive on quick ball and phase-after-phase of ball-in-hand attack, but the Sharks will be looking to take that away from them in their United Rugby Championship clash in Dublin on Saturday night.

James Venter and Dylan Richardson, both traditionally openside flanks, will continue to play in tandem in a mobile loose trio that sees Springbok Sikhumbuzo Notshe return as starting eighthman and the hardworking Phepsi Buthelezi on the bench.

And the more Leinster recycle the ball through rucks, the more they will bring Venter and Richardson, both expert ball-stealers, into play.

“We know that Leinster rely on lightning-quick ball at the breakdown and we need to slow that down,” Sharks coach Sean Everitt said on Friday. “But they do concede turnovers, and if we defend well then that could be a source of attacking possession for us.

“Leinster have an all-round game, a good kicking game forces you to play in the wrong areas and then their attack is really dangerous, they enjoy keeping ball-in-hand.

“But hopefully we can wear them down, get on top at the breakdowns and then get behind them. The amount of work that Dylan and James gets through stands us in good stead.

“Dylan is an all-round loose forward, he can play on the blindside too because he is physical, his carries are very good and he gets a lot of them. He’s good on the ground too,” Everitt said.

The Sharks have won both of their matches on tour thus far, but it’s not as if they have peacefully gone about securing that unbeaten record. They had to withstand a fierce second-half comeback from Zebre in Parma, eventually holding on 42-37, and last weekend they mounted the last-ditch effort, snatching a 20-19 win over the Dragons in Newport.

Everitt knows how steep the challenge is away to Leinster and he knows they need their all-round game to click.

“It’s a massive game for us to see where we’re at because we’re going to have a number of games without our Springboks. We’re under no false illusions, but teams have beaten Leinster and we beat them in Durban last season.

“We have to improve the areas that have let us down the last two weeks. Our attack was brilliant in the first game, but our defence let us down in the second half. Last weekend our defence was good but the attack was poor.

“So we need to get consistency in both of those areas. It’s going to be a great challenge because Leinster weren’t the top side in Europe for five years for nothing,” Everitt said.

Sharks team – Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Ben Tapuai, Thaakir Abrahams, Boeta Chamberlain, Grant Williams, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Dylan Richardson, James Venter, Hyron Andrews, Justin Basson, Thomas du Toit (c), Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench: Dan Jooste, Dian Bleuler, Carlu Sadie, Reniel Hugo, Phepsi Buthelezi, Cameron Wright, Nevaldo Fleurs, Marnus Potgieter.

Kickoff – 6.05pm.

It may just amount to papering over the cracks, but Cricket South Africa are looking to meet the six SA20 franchises to discuss the fall-out from last week’s auction and get more clarity on why Proteas regulars Temba Bavuma and Andile Phehlukwayo were not bought by any of the teams.

Their omission, especially that of national T20 captain Bavuma, dominated South African cricket news, detracting from one of the most important events in the establishment of the new league as hopefully something that will enthral local fans.

Franchises like Sunrisers Eastern Cape, who are owned by the Sun Group who operate numerous Indian newspapers, TV and radio stations and so should understand the media fall-out, and Durban Super Giants chose top-order batsmen with inferior domestic records rather than Bavuma.

“It’s quite difficult because we agreed with the franchises that we would allow the bidding process to run independently,” CSA chief executive Pholetsi Moseki told The Citizen.

“But we were hugely disappointed, especially by the omission of Temba and Andile, that was quite a shock. We need to have a post-mortem to see how we can avoid this happening in the future.

“I am part of the SA20 board and I will be proposing a post-mortem with the franchises. It will be a discussion, not an interrogation. We can’t control how they go about picking their teams, but we just want to understand better why it happened.

“We will have earnest discussions with them and inform the public as well. We want the public’s buy-in for this tournament, so they need to be able to read and hear why certain players weren’t chosen,” Moseki said.

The first sign that things were heading south at the auction came when Sunrisers Eastern Cape bought Marques Ackerman in the 12^th round of bidding. The KZN Dolphins batsman has a strike-rate of 123.68 and an average of 24.25 in 39 domestic T20s, compared to Bavuma’s strike-rate of 124.67 and an average of 30.52 over 100 matches.

Ackerman’s base price was admittedly just R175 000, while Bavuma’s was R850 000, which was clearly set too high, either by himself or whoever advised him poorly. Moseki confirmed that “the Proteas players could choose their own reserve price, initially they were told to go at R850 000, but if they wanted to go lower then they could do that. It was not possible to lower their price during the auction though”.

“We will ask the franchises whether there was enough local input in their selections. We need a long-term plan to ensure this does not happen again, specifically when it comes to contracted Black players.

“It will be very sad if it happens again next year and we obviously need to plan better,” Moseki said.